Atkins falls to Cedarville in overtime thrillerATKINS — The Atkins Red Devils opened conference play Friday with a heartbreaking 21-20 overtime loss to the Cedarville Pirates at Sorrels Stadium at Lemley Field. The Red Devils (3-1, 0-1 3A-4) took an early 7-0 lead in the first half, yet Cedarville cut the gap to one with a touchdown of its own. However, the Red Devils blocked the point-after attempt giving them a 7-6 halftime lead. The teams played to a 14-14 tie at the end of regulation a...

Lady Sand Lizards win 4A-4 Conference titleBOONEVILLE — The Dardanelle Lady Sand Lizards are 4A-4 Conference champions for the second year in a row after a team score of 292 at the 4A-4 District tournament at the Cherokee Creek Country Club in Booneville. “I am extremely proud of the girls,” Dardanelle head coach Jared White said. “They put it together as a team. Each match it feels more like it’s a different girl stepping up and leading the team.” Juilianna Harper shot a 96, followed ...

RJHS West tops Morrilton; East prevails over LR ChristianThe Russellville Junior High Eastside Lady Whirlwinds claimed another victory inside Whirlwind Gymnasium with a 25-19, 23-25, 15-11 win over the Little Rock Christian Academy Lady Warriors on Wednesday. Eastside head coach Cindy Williams is pleased with the progress the Lady Whirlwinds have made this season. “Right now they’re playing so well together,” she said. “We’ll have three and four people diving for the ball on the floor on each play. ...

Devil Pups top WestsideThe word “quit” wasn’t in the vocabulary for the Russellville Junior High Westside Whirlwinds during their 49-26 loss to the Morrilton Devil Pups on Thursday inside Cyclone Gymnasium. “That’s a big change from last week,” Russellville (0-4, 0-1 River Valley Conference) head coach Jim Peters remarked after the game. “We came out in the second half with a lot of fight. We changed some formations during the half, but they came out and didn’t quit...

Junior Sand Lizards top league-foe DoverDARDANELLE—The Dardanelle Junior Sand Lizards began conference play with a 27-12 victory over the Dover Junior Pirates Thursday at Keenan Field. The Junior Sand Lizards special teams highlighted the evening with two touchdowns and two blocked punts in the first half. Dardanelle (3-0-1, 1-0 4A-4) took the opening drive of the game 52 yards in five plays for a touchdown. Kyle Smith took a quarterback keep for 33 yards on fourth-and-1 to put the ...

NY school team calls it quits after football death BROCTON, N.Y. (AP) — It was a question with no right answer that tugged heavy at the hearts of Damon Janes’ teammates when the 16-year-old died after a hit in a high school football game: Should the season go on? Should the players rally and play every game for their star running back, whose motto was “Giving up is simply not an option”? Or should the teenagers forget about football and take time to mourn their friend? The Westfield-Brocton Wo...

Cyclones gear up for rival ConwayRussellville Cyclones head coach Jeff Holt knows the Conway Wampus Cats don’t need to use the storied rivalry against Russellville as fuel to defeat the Cyclones when they meet in the 7A/6A-Central Conference opener for both teams on Friday in Conway. The Wampus Cats are good enough to run the table on their own merit. “They’re a good looking football team,” Holt said. “They’ve got size, speed and they’re going to line up and try and run the f...

Lady Cyclones fall at home in five setsSomeone had to lose Tuesday night inside Cyclone Gymnasium when the defending Class 6A state champion Russellville Lady Cyclones volleyball team took on the Fort Smith Southside Lady Rebels. The Lady Cyclones pushed the Rebels to a five set match but ultimately couldn’t come away with the victory. “We played an excellent match,” Russellville head coach Cindy Jones said. “It was sad that either team had to lose.” Russellville (15-4. 4-2 7A/6A-C...

Danville golf takes 3rd in district tournamentDanville Little Johns golfer Jay Trusty earned medalist honors in the 3A-6 District golf tournament held at Hot Springs Magellan golf course on Tuesday. Trusty shot 1-under on the par 72 course to advance to the Class 3A State tournament being held at Chamberlyne Country Club on Oct. 7. Also advancing for the Little Johns will be Dalton Penzo, who shot a 92 on the day. Danville finished third as a team and came up two shots short of advancing ...

Sports Briefs (Sept. 25, 2013)Order your Cyclone Football History Book The Russellville Football Booster Club is taking orders for the new Cyclone Football History Book. Written by Rick Elliott with help from several sources and contributors, the book contains a look back on the history of Russellville Cyclone Football with an emphasis from 1961-2012. It has complete team rosters, coaching history, team and individual stats, all Cyclone football records, and photos. The bo...

River Valley Glance: Week 4There’s nothing quite like football season. Unfortunately, we’re almost halfway through it. Just six more games of regular-season action, and the class of 2014 will be hanging up their helmets for the last time at the high school level. It’s something to consider. Football is one of the few games you can never truly play again once you graduate. I can join a church-league softball team. I can play adult-league soccer. I can play pick-up games ...

Eastside competes in Fort SmithFORT SMITH — The Russellville Eastside Lady Whirlwinds finished second out of 16 teams during Saturady’s Fort Smith Invitational volleyball tournament. The East opened with a 25-24, 25-13 win over Trinity. Brittany Pehrson scored five points, an ace and a kill during the match. Emily Posey had two points and a block, Kaitlyn Womack had seven points, an ace and a kill, Bailey Wilbers had nine points, three kills. Ariston Gray had three points. ...

Pair of Dover runners finish 3rdLAVACA — Dover High School’s Sydney Hinkle finished third overall and earned a medal, while Junior Lady Pirate Katie Hartzell also finished third and medaled at the Lavaca Invitational recently. Dover’s Alicia Minks had a time of 31:53 on the 3.1-mile course. For the junior girls, Rylie Wheeler finished in 15:43, Faith Johnson had a 16:00, Katie Lee came in with a 16:36, Sarah Rainey finished in 19:26, Jennifer Walls clocked in at 21:43 and Sh...

Lady Cyclones will ‘Dig Pink’The Russellville Lady Cyclones volleyball team will host the third annual “Dig Pink” night on Oct.1 during their 7A/6A-Central Conference home game against the Conway Lady Wampus Cats. The “Dig Pink” event is coordinated with hundreds of other events across the nation the the Side-Out Foundation. The mission of Side-Out is to raise funding for breast cancer research through high school and collegiate girls’ volleyball events. The event will ti...

RJHS East beats WestRussellville Junior High School’s East Lady Whirlwinds finished the first half of the River Valley Conference schedule with a perfect 6-0 record after defeating RJHS Westside on Monday inside RJHS Gym. Eastside (18-1, 6-0) won 25-22, 25-16. Bailey Wilbers led all the Lady Whirlwinds with 12 kills. Brittany Pehrson had seven points and five kills. Emily Posey celebrated her birthday with six points, two aces and three kills. Kaitlyn Womack had ...

Warriors prove too much for WolverinesHAVANA — The Lamar Warriors stuck it to the struggling Western Yell County Wolverines 42-0 on Friday at Wolverine Field. Lamar (3-0) took a 14-0 lead by the close of the first quarter and scored another pair of touchdowns by halftime to make it 28-0. The Wolverines (0-3), who have only won three games in two years, remained scoreless for the remainder of the ball game. The Warriors added another touchdown in the third and fourth quarter to mak...

Little Johns beat Bigelow 28-7DANVILLE — The Little Johns improved to 2-1 on the season with their 28-7 nonconference win Friday night. Danville scored first with 5:34 to go in the first quarter on a 37-yard pass from Brent Wilkins to Alex Xayedeth. Steven Ramirez hit the point-after kick to give the Little Johns a 7-0 lead. With 2:22 to go in the first quarter, Danville scored again on a 17-yard run by Xayedeth. Ramirez made it 14-0 with his PAT. The Little Johns defense ...

Apaches survive Yellow Jackets, 28-20CLINTON — The Pottsville Apaches non-conference match-up against the Clinton Yellow Jackets proved to be the Apaches toughest test of the year. Trailing 14-0 l with under a minute and a half left in the second quarter, The Yellow Jackets went on a long drive and cut the lead to seven points with less than 30 seconds left in the half. Pottsville (3-0) took over at their own 38 yard line and Michael Perry dropped back to pass with four seconds l...